New wave of terrorist attacks possible before end of year: UN

International Desk: The United Nations has warned that a recent pause in international terrorist violence may soon end, with a new wave of attacks possible before the end of the year.

In a report, specialist monitors at the UN security council paint a worrying picture of a global Islamist extremist movement that continues to pose a significant threat despite recent setbacks.

The authors raise concerns about up to 30,000 foreigners who travelled to the “caliphate” to fight and who may still be alive.

“Their future prospects will be of international concern for the foreseeable future,” the report says. “Some may join al-Qaida or other terrorist brands that may emerge. Some will become leaders or radicalisers.”

The report is based on information supplied by intelligence agencies of UN member states, and provides a glimpse of collective thinking among security services around the world.

It notes that, though the geographical caliphate of Islamic State has ceased to exist, member states agree many of the underlying factors that gave rise to [Islamic State] still exist, which suggests that the threat from it and al-Qaida, or similar groups is unlikely to decline further.

Though there have been fewer successful attacks since 2015 and 2016, when extremists killed hundreds of people in France, Belgium and Germany, the threat to Europe “remains high”.

A major concern is the radicalisation of prison “inmates afflicted by poverty, marginalisation, frustration, low self-esteem and violence ”. A further challenge is the imminent release of some of the first wave of returnees to be imprisoned after returning from the Islamic State’s caliphate, which was established across a swath of land in Iraq and Syria in 2014. _The Guardian